Ling and Ting Share a Birthday

Of course they do! Ling and Ting are twins and in the second outing of this easy reader series their birthday serves as the anchor for six charming stories. Ling and Ting try on birthday shoes, go shopping for presents, bake cakes, make wishes, open their gifts, and read a story about Ming and Sing, twins who--surprise--also share a birthday but, unlike their counterparts, don't excel at sharing.

Each story cleverly focuses on how the girls are alike and how they are different, just as in the first book in the series. In story 3 for example, the girls decide to each bake a cake. Ling's comes out perfect, but Ting, who didn't read the instructions carefully, is left with an inedible mess. Ling has a solution. She cuts the cake in half, and, presto, they each have their own cake. In the next story, it's Ling's turn to mess up. She doesn't blow out one of the candles on her cake and fears her wish won't come true. Ting steps up to the plate and tells her twin not to worry. "We will share my wish. I will wish that we both have wishes. Then we will each have a wish." Now that's a good sister!

The bright and cheerful gouache images were inspired by 1950s children's textbook illustrations, as Lin explains in an author's note.

Ling & Ting Share a Birthday
by Grace Lin
Little, Brown and Company 48 pages
Published: 2013